Screenshot Weekly – Amnesia-Inducing, Spacefaring ShipAntics

Welcome back to Screenshot Weekly! Every Tuesday, IGM brings you exclusive looks at upcoming games in various stages of development. The featured image introducing each game will always be original, and made especially for IGM, so you’ll see them for the first time right here! Without further ado, let’s take a look at this week’s screenshots (remember to click the pictures to appreciate them in all their fully-sized glory):

4B10

“You wake up, without memory in a closed room. All you see are walls, but there’s something else.. a key, and a elevator. But, where does it take? Who are you? Can you find your way out? Can you find yourself along the way? Can you survive?” No, this isn’t the synopsis to an M. Night Shyamalan film, it’s in fact the story of 4B10, an upcoming retro-styled platformer that is currently in Alpha. According to solo developer Juliano “tibone,” the game has been in development for quite some time, but since he can only devote free time to the project sparingly, it is only about 50% done. The good news is a demo is on the way soon. Described as a love letter to old games, with an emphasis on being difficult-but-fair, 4B10 will contain 40 levels, plus secrets and bonus endings. Juliano is hoping to release the game by the end of the year, targeting a launch on Windows PC, and likely OSX further down the line.

NORA

If you’re hankering for an episodic psychological thriller, NORA may just be the fix you’re after. Assuming the role of Abigael Blake, the captain of a privateer ship known as NORA, it will be up to the player to maintain positive relationships with the crew before everyone gives in to madness. (There’s a plot point in between there I’d just rather not spoil. In case you thought simply going into space inherently drove people mad…) Kevin Gray, co-owner of the development team at GravTech Games, further mentions that, “NORA is a game about loss and hardship and the will to persevere throughout it all. It’s about the people that shape us, the strength they give us, and the lengths we will go to in order to protect them. It’s a game about how even little actions can have earth-shattering repercussions. Will you find the answers you so desperately need? Or will you succumb to the gibbering madness swelling throughout your ship?” No release date or platforms are confirmed yet, but the game is running in Unreal Engine 4.

ShipAntics

Our next preview comes to us from Studio POWWOW, developers of ShipAntics. As the team puts it, “ShipAntics is a puzzle-adventure game mixed with zany cartoon action, stuffed to the gills with weird and wonderful characters. Set on The Barnacle, ShipAntics stars a madcap crew of seafaring adventurers; Captain Fred, the warm hearted skipper, Amanda, his precocious, wide-eyed daughter and Otto, a cheeky, young, tall-tale touting octopus.” The game is expected to release on iOS, and eventually Android, in mid-July, so it just barely made the cutoff for inclusion in the segment. It will be available in English, French, German, and Spanish, and is being published by Story Toys. One of the neat features of ShipAntics is that all of the game’s cartoon cutscenes can be viewed without having to play through the game; so if you’d like, they can be enjoyed as a comedic, coherent cartoon as well.

That’s it for this week’s Screenshot Weekly. Be sure to come back next week to see more exclusive looks of the latest indie games in development! Let us know in the comments section what upcoming indie games you’d like to see featured in a future installment. As for any indie developers who would like to see their screenshots featured in an upcoming segment, feel free to send an email to IGM at editors@indiegamemag.com with the Subject Line: “Screenshot Weekly”. Or, if you’d like to be part of our Magazine’s Screenshot Monthly segment, include that in the email as well!

The Editor-in-Chief for IGM, Vinny Parisi graduated from the Ramapo College of New Jersey with a degree in Journalism. No stranger to the industry, Vinny first picked up an NES controller at the tender age of two-years-old and hasn't stopped gaming since. RPG and Action-adventure are his genres of choice, but there isn't much he hasn't played. His thoughts and shenanigans are displayed for all the world to see @Vincent_Parisi